93 Facts About Prime Minister Gordon Brown

1.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Blair government from 1997 to 2007.

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2.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is the most recent Labour politician as well as the most recent Scottish politician to hold the office of Prime Minister.

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3.

Doctoral graduate, Prime Minister Gordon Brown read history at the University of Edinburgh, where he was elected Rector in 1972.

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4.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown spent his early career working as both a lecturer at a further education college and a television journalist.

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5.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown entered the British House of Commons in 1983 as the MP for Dunfermline East.

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6.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined the Shadow Cabinet in 1989 as Shadow Secretary of State for Trade, and was later promoted to become Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1992.

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7.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown presided over the longest period of sustained economic growth in British history, but this became increasingly dependent on mounting debt, and part of this growth period started under the preceding Conservative government in 1993.

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8.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown outlined five economic tests which resisted the UK adopting the euro currency.

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9.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government introduced rescue packages in 2008 and 2009 to help keep the banks afloat during the global financial crisis, and as a result the United Kingdom's national debt increased dramatically.

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10.

In 2008, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government passed the world's first Climate Change Act, and introduced the Equality Act in 2010.

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11.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown later played a prominent role in the campaign to maintain the union during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

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12.

James Gordon Brown was born at the Orchard Maternity Nursing Home in Giffnock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

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13.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's father was John Ebenezer Brown, a minister of the Church of Scotland and a strong influence on Brown.

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14.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's mother was Jessie Elizabeth "Bunty" Brown ; she was the daughter of John Souter, a timber merchant.

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15.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was brought up there with his elder brother John and younger brother Andrew in a manse; he is therefore often referred to as a "son of the manse", an idiomatic Scottish phrase, similar to the American phrase "preacher's kid".

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16.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was educated first at Kirkcaldy West Primary School where he was selected for an experimental fast stream education programme, which took him two years early to Kirkcaldy High School for an academic hothouse education taught in separate classes.

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17.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was accepted by the University of Edinburgh to study history at the same early age of 16.

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18.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown underwent experimental surgery at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and his right eye was saved by a young eye surgeon, Hector Chawla.

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19.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown graduated from Edinburgh with an undergraduate MA degree with First-Class Honours in history in 1972.

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20.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was bright, too, though not like him, but they seemed made for each other.

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21.

In 1972, while still a student, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was elected Rector of the University of Edinburgh, the convener of the University Court.

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22.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown served as Rector until 1975, and edited the document The Red Paper on Scotland.

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23.

From 1976 to 1980 Prime Minister Gordon Brown was employed as a lecturer in politics at Glasgow College of Technology.

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24.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was elected to Parliament as a Labour MP at his second attempt, for Dunfermline East in the 1983 general election.

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25.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's first Westminster office mate was a newly elected MP from the Sedgefield constituency, Tony Blair.

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26.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown became an opposition spokesman on Trade and Industry in 1985.

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27.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1987 to 1989 and then Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, before becoming Shadow Chancellor in 1992 after Labour's fourth consecutive defeat in the general election that year.

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28.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown did not contest the leadership after Tony Blair became the favourite, deciding to make way for Blair to avoid splitting the pro-modernising vote in the leadership ballot.

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29.

Whether this is true or not, the relationship between Blair and Prime Minister Gordon Brown was central to the fortunes of New Labour, and they mostly remained united in public, despite reported serious private rifts.

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30.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown would remain in this role for 10 years and two months, making him the longest-serving Chancellor in modern history.

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31.

On taking office as Chancellor of the Exchequer Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave the Bank of England operational independence in monetary policy, and thus responsibility for setting interest rates through the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee.

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32.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown implemented the Windfall Tax in 1997 on the privatised utilities.

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33.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's 2000 Spending Review outlined a major expansion of government spending, particularly on health and education.

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34.

In October 1997, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that the Treasury would set five economic tests to determine whether the economic case had been made for the United Kingdom to adopt the European single currency.

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35.

In 2000, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was accused of starting a political row about higher education when he accused the University of Oxford of elitism in its admissions procedures, describing its decision not to offer a place to state school pupil Laura Spence as "absolutely outrageous".

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36.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the clear favourite to succeed Blair; he was the only candidate spoken of seriously in Westminster.

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37.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was succeeded by Alistair Darling as Chancellor the following day.

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38.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was Member of Parliament for the constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath until he stepped down in 2015.

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39.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the sixth post-war Prime Minister, of a total of 13, to assume the role without having won a general election.

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40.

Not all British prime ministers have been university graduates, but, of those that were, Brown was one of only five that had not attended either Oxford or Cambridge.

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41.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed moving some traditional prime ministerial powers conferred by royal prerogative to the realm of Parliament, such as the power to declare war and approve appointments to senior positions.

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42.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown wanted Parliament to gain the right to ratify treaties and have more oversight into the intelligence services.

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43.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed moving some powers from Parliament to citizens, including the right to form "citizens' juries", easily petition Parliament for new laws, and rally outside Westminster.

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44.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown asserted that the attorney general should not have the right to decide whether to prosecute in individual cases, such as in the loans for peerages scandal.

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45.

In July 2008 Prime Minister Gordon Brown supported a new bill extending the pre-charge detention period to 42 days.

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46.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was mentioned by the press in the expenses crisis for claiming for the payment of his cleaner; however, no wrongdoing was found and the Commons Authority did not pursue Prime Minister Gordon Brown over the claim.

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47.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated in a speech when announcing his bid that he wants a "better constitution" that is "clear about the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen in Britain today".

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48.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown planned to set up an all-party convention to look at new powers for Parliament and to look at rebalancing powers between Whitehall and local government.

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49.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would give Parliament the final say on whether British troops were sent into action in future.

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50.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he wanted to release more land and ease access to ownership with shared equity schemes.

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51.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown backed a proposal to build new eco-towns, each housing between 10,000 and 20,000 homeowners – up to 100,000 new homes in total.

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52.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he wanted to have doctors' surgeries open at the weekends, and GPs on call in the evenings.

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53.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated in the manifesto that the National Health Service was his top priority.

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54.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown had been committed to the Iraq War, but said in a speech in June 2007 that he would "learn the lessons" from the mistakes made in Iraq.

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55.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a letter published on 17 March 2008 that the United Kingdom would hold an inquiry into the war.

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56.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown went to great lengths to empathise with those who lost family members in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

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57.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has often said "War is tragic", echoing Blair's quote, "War is horrible".

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58.

Nonetheless, in November 2007 Prime Minister Gordon Brown was accused by some senior military figures of not adhering to the Military Covenant, a convention within British politics ensuring adequate safeguards, rewards and compensation for military personnel who risk their lives in obedience to orders derived from the policy of the elected government.

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59.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown did not attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics on 8 August 2008 in Beijing; instead, he attended the closing ceremony on 24 August 2008.

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60.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown had been under intense pressure from human rights campaigners to send a message to China, concerning the 2008 Tibetan unrest.

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61.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown argued that the Treaty significantly differed from the Constitution, and as such did not require a referendum.

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62.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown responded with plans for a lengthy debate on the topic, and stated that he believed the document to be too complex to be decided by referendum.

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63.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown had argued, "I don't think that the previous studies took into account that so much of the cannabis on the streets is of a lethal quality and we really have got to send out a message to young people—this is not acceptable".

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64.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's premiership coincided with the global recession, during which Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for fiscal action in an attempt to stimulate aggregate demand.

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65.

In mid-2008, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's leadership was presented with a challenge as some MPs openly called for him to resign.

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66.

Several MPs argued that if Prime Minister Gordon Brown did not recover in the polls by early 2009, he should call for a leadership contest; however, certain prominent MPs, such as Jacqui Smith and Bill Rammell, suggested that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the right person to lead Britain through its economic crisis.

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67.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was supported in making clear her desire for a contest by Joan Ryan, Jim Dowd, Greg Pope, and a string of others who had previously held positions in government.

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68.

Miliband, responded to this by saying that he was confident Prime Minister Gordon Brown could lead Labour to victory in the next general election, and that his article was an attack against the fatalism in the party since the loss of Glasgow-East.

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69.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown later referred to the call for a secret ballot as a "form of silliness".

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70.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was re-elected as MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath with 29,559 votes.

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71.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced on 10 May 2010 that he would stand down as Labour Leader, with a view to a successor being chosen before the next Labour Party Conference in September 2010.

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72.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown resigned as leader of the Labour Party with immediate effect.

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73.

Towards the end of May 2010, Prime Minister Gordon Brown began writing Beyond the Crash, completing it after 14 weeks.

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74.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown played a prominent role in the lead-up to, and the aftermath of, the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, campaigning for Scotland to stay in the United Kingdom.

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75.

On 1 December 2014, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that he would not be seeking re-election to parliament.

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76.

On 22 April 2011 it was announced that Prime Minister Gordon Brown would be taking on an unpaid advisory role at the World Economic Forum.

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77.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown was appointed as the inaugural 'Distinguished Leader in Residence' by New York University and took part in discussions and lectures relating to the global financial crisis and globalisation.

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78.

In July 2012 Prime Minister Gordon Brown was named by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a United Nations Special Envoy on Global Education.

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79.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown chaired the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity.

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80.

In December 2015, Brown took his first large-scale role in the private sector since standing down as prime minister in 2010, becoming an advisor to PIMCO.

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81.

In September 2020, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was a co-author of a letter to the journal Nature highlighting the importance of EU funding in the fight against COVID-19.

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82.

At the age of 49, Prime Minister Gordon Brown married Sarah Macaulay in a private ceremony at his home in North Queensferry, Fife, on 3 August 2000.

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83.

In 2011, Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated he had wanted the details of his son's condition kept private and that the publication had left him "in tears".

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84.

Sarah Prime Minister Gordon Brown rarely made official appearances, whether with or without her husband.

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85.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is patron of several charities and has written articles for national newspapers related to this.

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86.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is the brother-in-law of environmental journalist Clare Rewcastle Prime Minister Gordon Brown; he wrote a piece for The Independent supporting Clare's current environmental efforts on behalf of Sarawak.

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87.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is a strong supporter of the NHS, owing partly to both the experimental surgery that saved the sight in his right eye after his retina became detached, and the care he and Sarah Prime Minister Gordon Brown received when their premature firstborn baby died.

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88.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's papers were prepared in capital letters and in extremely large type, resulting in his stack of papers at the dispatch box being noticeably bulky.

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89.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is a supporter of Kirkcaldy-based football club Raith Rovers and has written articles about his relationship with the club.

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90.

Son of a Church of Scotland minister, Brown has talked about what he calls his "moral compass" and of his parents being his "inspiration".

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91.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has, at least ostensibly, been keen to keep his religion a private matter.

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92.

In March 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was named World Statesman of the Year by the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, an American organisation 'dedicated to promoting peace, human rights and understanding between religious faiths'.

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93.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has, on six occasions, been honoured in the Scottish Politician of the Year awards organised by The Herald newspaper.

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